Montreal Victoire No. 7 Laura Stacey celebrates a goal with teammates during the third period against Seattle Trent on March 19, 2026 at Place Belle in Laval, Quebec, Canada.
Minas Panagiotakis | Getty Images Sports | Getty Images
The 2026 Milan Winter Olympics brought women’s hockey to the spotlight like never before, culminating in the gold medal game between the United States and Canada that set viewership records across the United States. The Women’s Professional Hockey League has spent the better part of the past three years building a structure to leverage momentum to build a sustainable women’s hockey league.
“Every Olympic year there’s going to be some level of excitement and interest in the women’s game,” said Jayna Hefford, executive vice president of hockey operations for the PWHL, who won five Olympic medals with Canada. “Given where we are now, it’s an exponential progression from there.”
Despite the recent success of women’s sports and leagues such as the WNBA and NWSL, the women’s hockey league has struggled to find similar footing, and that also applies to the success of the U.S. and Canadian teams at the Olympics. Since women’s ice hockey was introduced as an Olympic sport in 1998, Canada has won five of the eight gold medals, with the United States winning the other three, including a 2-1 overtime victory at the 2026 Games.
Several previous attempts to start a women’s hockey league in North America have failed, often due to financial difficulties. While the WNBA is partially owned and subsidized by the NBA, the NHL has historically provided no financial support to the women’s league, and many of these organizations have struggled to pay sustainable wages to their players. In 2019, many top women’s players boycotted existing professional leagues in search of better resources.
However, that changed with the launch of the PWHL in 2023. The league is privately funded by Mark Walter, the billionaire co-founder and CEO of Guggenheim Partners, who has become one of the largest sports investors in recent years with controlling stakes in MLB’s Los Angeles Dodgers, NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers, WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks and motorsports organization Andretti Global. Walter, who acquired the rights to a separate women’s hockey league as part of the PWHL’s launch, has welcomed tennis legend Billie Jean King and her partner Ilana Cross as members of the PWHL’s advisory board.
Despite a short schedule (the league was announced in August 2023, with the first game played on January 1, 2024), the PWHL achieved success in its first three seasons. Now with eight teams, the league has captivated fans across North America, set multiple attendance records, attracted major sponsors and, perhaps most importantly, become a platform for the world’s best women’s hockey players as they prepare for the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Billie Jean King and Jayna Hefford head to center ice for the ceremonial puck drop before a PWHL hockey game between Toronto and New York at Mattamy Athletic Center on January 1, 2024 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Mark Brinch | Getty Images
New fans and increased revenue after the Olympics
The league is gearing up for the 2026 Winter Olympics.
“We understood that cameras were going to be installed in our league, unlike other leagues,” said Stan Kasten, president and CEO of the Los Angeles Dodgers and a member of the PWHL advisory committee.
When the Olympic roster was announced, 61 of the approximately 184 players in the league were named to the national team, and 39 of them competed in the gold medal game.
“At that time, we talked about it: We would need additional budget, we would need additional personnel, we would set up a facility in Milan and we would be ready to host the sponsors, investors and assembled media who would be seeing the world’s premier women’s hockey league for the first time,” Kasten said. “We saw this as a springboard for the next wave of interest. I have to say, like so many things from day one when we started this league, we never expected it to turn out as well as it did.”
The Olympic momentum carries over to the arena as well. The PWHL held its first ever sold-out event at Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena on February 27, drawing 17,335 fans, setting a U.S. arena record and marking the third time this season alone the league has set a new attendance record. The league’s first weekend in action drew 49,343 fans, setting a new league record for weekend attendance.
Total attendance through 71 games for the 2025-2026 PWHL season was 616,795, with an average of 8,687, an increase of 20% compared to the previous season.
Product sales during February increased by 101% compared to pre-Olympic sales. PWHL saw a 200% increase in video views on YouTube, primarily broadcasting games, during the Olympics. Additionally, traffic to the company’s website increased six times during the Olympics, with 73% of website traffic coming from new users.
“While it’s great to see today’s numbers, the real hard work begins now,” said Amy Scheer, PWHL’s executive vice president of business operations. “We have fans, we have new followers, we’re getting all this attention. Now, what do we do with it?”
Fans greet Vancouver Goldeneyes player Abby Boleen on the ice before the team’s first PWHL game against Seattle Trent at Pacific Coliseum on November 21, 2025 in Vancouver, Canada.
Rich Lamb | Getty Images Sports | Getty Images
For Scheer, who was named to the 2026 CNBC Changemakers list along with Hefford, that means helping the league take the next big step commercially, pushing for higher-value sponsorships and major media rights deals. “We are now able to strike while the iron is hot, and the value proposition for us has changed,” she said. The league currently has more than 75 corporate sponsors, and PWHL recently entered into a partnership with Oak View Group to help secure additional contracts.
In March, the PWHL signed a deal with Scripps Sports to broadcast the league’s Walter Cup Finals on Aeon, marking the first time the league’s Walter Cup Finals will be broadcast nationally on a linear network. Aeon also aired the game on March 28, making it the league’s first nationally televised game. Scheer said the league is in talks with various partners about potential media rights deals for next season, but did not provide additional details.
Filling larger arenas across North America
Due to its growing popularity, the league is increasingly filling larger arenas and even cities without PWHL teams. Since its inception, the PWHL has used a barnstorming strategy called the “Takeover Tour” to play several games outside of its home arena in an effort to test new markets or fill larger arenas.
That strategy will be on display Saturday when the New York Sirens, who normally play at Newark’s Prudential Center, home of the NHL’s New Jersey Devils, play at Madison Square Garden against Seattle Trent. The match has already been played to a sold-out arena with more than 18,000 seats.
The league also sold out the Boston Fleet vs. Montreal Victoire scheduled for April 11 at Boston’s TD Garden. Its arena can accommodate more than 17,800 people.
Scheer said that in previous league takeover tours, more than 60 percent of the fans who attended had never attended an NHL game in those arenas. This signals an expansion strategy for the league, with plans to add up to four new teams next season.
“The list of cities that need us is long,” Kasten said. “The problem we have, especially in American cities, is that the most appropriate venue for us is no longer a 5,000- or 6,000-seat arena, but a large venue that doesn’t give us dates. I’ve been talking to NHL teams that are in those buildings and the owners of those buildings, and finding dates is the biggest problem in urban areas right now.”
All of these things together make the PWHL a sustainable and ultimately profitable league. Kasten said the league has exceeded expense projections each season, but “has consistently matched revenue growth and it has proven to be worth it.”
“Revenue growth has been consistent and will jump even further next year,” he said. “We are still in the red, but it is as planned and the gap is narrowing.”
The league has CBA contracts with players through 2031 and hopes to turn a profit by that point.
Kasten said there are no current plans to sell the team to private owners, but there has been some recent talk of bringing in additional investors, especially as more people approach the league for attractive sports opportunities.
“It’s very different from anything that’s existed before, and people understand that,” Hefford said as he watches the league grow. Hefford, who herself played in and served as commissioner of the Women’s Professional Hockey League in the past, said the PWHL has the opportunity to offer players and fans something that other leagues don’t.
“For a long time, it was always about the national team, but I think we’re seeing a shift now where there’s loyalty to the PWHL team and the community,” she said. “National team is always a great opportunity, but right now there’s even more to be excited about.”
Future developments for the league and its players
Laura Stacey said she had to ask herself tough questions when she returned home from the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics after playing for Canada.
“When you come back, you’re like, ‘What’s next? Where do I go? Do I do it for another four years?'” she said. “It’s a four-year cycle where athletes think about whether they can afford to keep their Olympic dreams alive.”
Stacey said the Olympics were always the “pinnacle” for female hockey players and that she was able to make her dream come true three times, including winning two gold medals.
“The fact that now we can play in a great league all year round, every year, and every four years, the players who are at the top get a chance to represent their country at the Olympics and then come back and still have this professional league is really incredible,” she said.
Still, there is work to be done. Players Association President Stacey said the players are working closely with the league to ensure facilities and other player experiences are maintained at a high level as the league expands. Players also want their salaries to increase to match the league’s growth, with the league’s average salary being about $55,000, according to the CBA.
Kasten said the league is pushing for greater visibility and coverage. Currently, league scores are not highlighted on ESPN’s app or website.
No longer having to educate potential sponsors about what the PWHL is or why women’s hockey is an attractive opportunity, Scheer said the conversation has now shifted to asking potential supporters to “put their money where their mouth is.”
Hefford said the league has launched several initiatives to encourage young girls to play hockey, but there is still much work to do to encourage the next generation of PWHL stars and fans.
However, Stacey said she and her players have not forgotten that the PWHL has already made great strides.
“There have been all sorts of versions (of the league) in the past that haven’t worked out for various reasons, but none of them have come close to where we are now,” she said. “So for us, it’s like, here we are. We made it. This was built now. We need to do everything we can to make sure this place is bigger, better and stronger when we all leave.”
